Investment blooming in Marysville's Uptown downtown district

Already boosted by nearly $4 million in public improvements and private investments over the past few years, the effort to revitalize Marysville’s central business district continues on the upswing.

The latest signs are a $10,000 state planning grant for Marysville’s Uptown district and the activities of a private development fund planning to invest there, said Eric Phillips, CEO of the Union County Chamber of Commerce.

“A lot has been carried out and been successful,” Phillips said, pointing to design standards, streetscape improvements and the addition of several new businesses in Uptown.

“But downtowns weren’t built overnight,” he said. “They were built over a number of years, and it takes time to revitalize them.”

Gravitational pull

Like many aged business districts in small Ohio towns, Marysville’s Uptown area has come under pressure from shopping centers and big chain stores on the edge of the community. More than 700,000 square feet of commercial space has been built since 2005 in Marysville, the Union County seat about 35 miles northwest of Columbus. Most of the new retail space is along Route 33, where Wal-Mart and Home Depot have built stores.

“That put pressure on our businesses,” Phillips said. “They need to find a niche market to help them be successful.”

Efforts to shore up Uptown’s future should be helped by the $10,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development. It is being matched with $10,000 from the city of Marysville, Phillips said. The money will pay for an update to a 2006 downtown development plan and include a market analysis of the central business district, Development Department spokeswoman Katie Sabatino said. The plan will analyze the local economy, the effects of new retail development and how Uptown can reinvent itself.

The state money comes after Marysville received $400,000 for downtown revitalization through the federal Community Development Block Grant program in 2008. That money paid for streetscape enhancements, including new sidewalks, street lights and traffic signals, and spurred another $400,000 in private investments in Uptown, Phillips said.

In addition, Union County spent $3.1 million in 2008 to refurbish the former Heilig-Meyers furniture store in Uptown so it could be converted into an office building

“The public and private sectors need to work hand in hand to make things happen,” Phillips said.

Character in downtown

On the private-sector side, Union County Development Fund LLC is look to buy Uptown properties in the coming months as part of a plan to lead a revitalization of the central business district, said Bruce Daniels, chairman of the fund and owner of a Honda dealership in Marysville.

Daniels is a partner in the fund with Joe Duke, owner of an insurance agency, restaurant and gift shop in Marysville, local attorney Dennis Schulze and Rick Shortell, CEO of the Union County Family YMCA.

The group, Daniels said, hopes to bring in more investors this year after a master plan for Uptown is completed for the fund by Kinzelman Kline Gossman, an urban design and planning firm from Columbus. Daniels and Duke said they think Uptown has the potential to develop with restaurants and shops like those in Grandview Heights, the Short North and German Village.

“When you look at the older buildings and their character,” Daniels said, “there couldn’t be a better platform. Our opportunity is tremendous.”

Duke, a 30-year Marysville resident, said the goal of the development fund is to improve what he called “a cute little downtown.”

“We’re more like stakeholders in the community,” he said. “We don’t know if there is any money to be made, but we want to improve the quality of life here.”

Uptown could benefit from the addition of mom-and-pop restaurants and businesses that appeal to young people, said Jo Clark, owner of Twisted Sister Florists on Main Street.

There also needs to be more to attract visitors in the evening hours, she said, noting the opening last year of a Farmhouse Ice Cream Parlor helped.

Clark, also a Marysville resident for 30 years, opened her flower shop three years ago after spending most of her career in health care. She views Marysville as a growing community that remains supportive of businesses in Uptown, even since the arrival of the chain stores on the outskirts.

“Uptown will have its own place,” she said. “What we have is so different from the chains and strip centers here. A lot of people have been loyal supporters for a long time and will continue with that.”